Princeton Comes to Town With The Ivy League Regular Season Title on the Line

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 
• Cornell hosts Princeton for Senior Day in the teams' battle for top of the Ivy League and the sole rights to the Ivy League regular season title in Ithaca, N.Y., on Saturday, April 22, at Schoellkopf Field.
• The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
• The Big Red has outscored opponents 179-119 across the first 12 games of the season.
• Princeton enters with a win over common opponent Yale (23-10), Brown (16-12), Dartmouth (17-7), and Harvard (17-11), and an overtime loss to Penn (9-8).
• Cornell sits at sixth in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week, consistent with last week's rankings.
• Cornell ranks eighth nationally in scoring defense, allowing 9.92 goals per game. The Big Red also ranks eighth in groundballs per game, averaging 36.25, and 18th nationally in caused turnovers per game (9.00). Cornell's clearing percentage of 90.8 percent ranks eighth nationally.
• Princeton averages the third most saves per game nationally at 15.27. The Tigers average the fourth fewest turnovers per game (13.64), a mark that ranks fewest in the Ivy. Coulter Mackesy averages the most points per game in the nation (5.91).
• Cornell returns the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in CJ Kirst, who notched 55 goals and 79 points for the Big Red last year. He leads the nation in goals per game (4.58) even after being shut out at Army, and sits at second in points per game (5.83). Following his 11-point performance at Hobart and five-point day at #9/#8 Ohio State, Kirst was named the Ivy League Player on the Week (March 5). He earned a nod on the USILA National Team of the Week following his seven-goal outing versus #16 Penn.
• Kirst has rewritten the Cornell single-season record books for a second straight year, specifically in the single-season goals category. He has 55 goals in 12 games this season, and already is tied for eighth all-time. His 55 goals in 19 games last season ranks sixth in the Big Red record books.
• Gavin Adler is a three-time National Team of the Week honoree, most recently following the Cornell win over Yale where he tallied eight groundballs and a caused turnover. He aided in holding one of the nation's leading attackman, Matt Brandau, to just one goal, nearly ending a 129-game goal-streak, the longest in the country.
• Jack Cascadden has become a staple in the Big Red faceoff unit. He ranks third in the Ivy in faceoff winning percentage (.552). He was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week following his performance against Penn, where he assisted on a goal just 10 seconds into the game, and went 12-for-16 at the faceoff.
• The Big Red boasts three mid-season All-Americans, Gavin Adler (First-team), Chayse Ierlan (Third-team), and CJ Kirst (First-team).

THE SERIES 
Overall: Princeton leads, 42-40-2
In Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell leads, 21-18
Current Streak: Cornell won two
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 18-15, in Princeton, N.J.
Buczek vs. Princeton: 1-0
Series Notes: 

• The past 10 meetings lean slightly in Cornell's favor, 6-4. The Big Red boasts a narrow 128-122 edge in the goal differential in these meetings.
• The Big Red and the Tigers have one of the oldest rivalries in the Ivy, beginning in 1922. The conference play record is in Cornell's favor, sitting at 38-26 entering this weekend.
• Though the average goals scored in the all-time series sits at 8.74, the past ten meetings have seen an average of over 12 goals per game for both teams.
  
  A WIN OVER PRINCETON WOULD ... 
  • clinch the top spot in the Ivy League Tournament, setting up a battle against the winner of the Harvard/Yale game.
  • mark the first time that the Big Red has beaten Princeton in three straight meetings since the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
  • move the Big Red to 5-1 in conference play, securing the Ivy League regular season title.
  • be the 799th win in program history (798-493-27 in 126 seasons, .605).

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 16, Brown 9
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I GALLERY
• The Big Red cliched its fourth-consecutive Ivy League Tournament bid when it downed Brown, 16-9, at Stevenson-Pincince Field in Providence, R.I.
• Cornell was first on the boards, but Brown tallied two to answer, and would keep the Big Red from leading until 3:55 remained in the first, when CJ Kirst completed his hat trick as the second goal in a four goal Cornell run. Cornell never looked back, allowing just six goals the rest of the game, while scoring 11 total in the first half.
• The Cornell attack was led by CJ Kirst, who tallied a hat trick on the way to a nine-point performance. His first goal of the game was his 50th this season, making him just the second player in Cornell history to tally multiple 50-goal seasons.
• Michael Long notched four points in his fourth outing this year.
• Billy Coyle and Spencer Wirtheim each tallied three points to close out the Big Red multi-point scorers.
• Kirst and Jack Follows  each caused two turnovers.
• Brown's Devon McLane and Matteo Corsi led the Bears with three goals. Three more Brown players tallied multi-point games.
• Chayse Ierlan had eight saves in the contest.

Photos by Dave Burbank, Madison Epperson, Eldon Lindsay, and Darl Zehr.